Blaze step inaccurate

[R3dsoxfresh]

While eating dinner my steps were at 9987. Did not getvup to step an my celebration went off that i completed 10k step . How this that possible? Have it set to non dominate arm.. what is goin on

[Corvettekid]

Scrub, I feel your pain.  I love my Blaze but really am teed off that a simple software fix hasn't come out yet.

Like most users, mine is off by 20-30%, about 25% pretty much.  Last month I actually walked around 1/4 mile HS track and it registered 0.18 miles each time (72% accuracy).  Steps were accurate for 0.18 mile but NOT for 0.25 miles.

[scrubsz]

We've all see the Fitbit replies. They are 2/3 "Welcome!" and 1/3 "change to dominant hand or reboot". Rubber stamp replies with no guidance or explanation as to what is wrong.

Moderator edit: format, word choice

[scrubsz]

I'm sick and tired of the niceties. The only suggested fixes are swapping your dominant hand, rebooting the watch, or changing your stride length. It doesnt work! I returned my Blaze two weeks ago and am about to get an Apple Watch. I tool loved the functions the Blaze had....but it wasnt a tracker...not in the least bit. Such a shame this company wont acknowledge that there is a problem.

Moderator edit: format, content

[Corvettekid]

Andrew, is Corporate aware of the frustration and ANGER that many FitBit Blaze users are feeling ?

We don't blame you, the Mods, we blame Corporate and Tech Support for not giving you guys a definitive answer that will address our needs like a software patch should be ready by June 15th or something to that effect.

Can FitBit at least ACKNOWLEDGE that they are seeing the same things when they use the product ?   If so, how did this get past beta testing ?

I work in the financial field and I know about publicly-traded companies and if I were a FitBit Investor Relations employee I would not be happy with what my superiors are doing.   This is going to boomerang BIGTIME if a solution is not found or at least announed VERY shortly and I would also give some kind of "Thank You" coupons to Blaze purchasers for putting up with the major glitch.

I would also tell your superiors to Google the words "Ford Pinto" and "New Coke" and how not to respond to unhappy consumers. 

[gordonofalba]

Scrub, I feel your pain as well.

There are issues with the Fitbit Blaze step count. I owned a Surge until the strap fell off and could not be replaced. My stride length IS 29" and the Surge was very accurate. Ever since I started using the Blaze the stride length has gone down about 6%--
 
Total stepsTotal miles
Stride
 
 
 
 
Surge:
3365944.00
1541.85
29.02
 
 
 
 
Blaze
658627.00
284.99
27.42
 
 
 
 
Difference
 
 
5.54%

The data from the Surge is from January 2015 until Juy 5th 2016, (NO relacement straps)
The data from the Blaze is from July 5th 2016 until August 15th 2016.
There are several explanations:

1. The Blaze is incorrect, (a piece of @#$%@)
2. My body shrunk 5% in ONE DAY
No changes to my stride length parameter was made in 'Settings / Priofile' which suggests FitBit have discovered a completely new arithmetic or something about the human body only discovered recently. If any of these are true perhaps FitBit will publish it in a peer reviewed journal: The "Kazakhstan Fitness Bulletin" does not count!
The Surge data is consistent with my iHealth and Garmin data, the Blaze data is not! I have also gained weight usung the FitBit because my calorie burn has suddenly gone down, what a surprise!
What I suggest is this. after replying to this e-mail with worthless assurances that the matter is being looked into and will be dealt with, why not leave it until the one night of the year when nobody is paying attention and make some surreptitious changes. This will of course serve no ther purpose than to remind us how Fitbit treats it customers.
I am also having a great deal of fun with my 'sleep' data, (the random number generator), but will post this separately.

[meresydotes]

It seems like there's two discussions here: 1) Wild inaccuracies, where the Blaze only counts 70%- 80% of steps and 2) small inaccuracies, where it skips the steps if you only walk a few at a time and you get extra steps when you're not walking.

For #1,this is a definite problem. I've found that Blaze counts fewer steps the more you swing your arms when you walk or run. I had the same problem with a Charge HR, but I guess most people find this to be a new problem since the Blaze update in April.

For #2, this is verging on normal. The Blaze looks to establish a pattern of movement before it starts counting steps. If you only walk a few steps, then stop, it might not start counting. This doesn't make a big difference over 1000, steps, but it does if you just walk across the kitchen a few times. At the same time, you may accrue steps doing things like eating or typing or washing your hands. My attitude is that the few steps missed walking across the kitchen are made up by washing my hands, so it's a "wash" at the end of the day.

[chilehead]

After doing some tests and getting about a 20% step loss, Fitbit sent me a new Blaze.  Initial assessment - about the same.  15% step loss, but I need to do some longer tests/counts to see if there is any difference.  I didn't expect any.

Probably going to return it, maybe get a Charge 2 if initial reports are it's accurate.  

[yhussein]

Yeah, my fitbit isnt accurate- Would go on a walk with my friend who wears a garmin (and uses GPS)- Mine would be atleast 1k over what his says. Not very accurate - Also, if I havent reached my goal for the day I can simply sit on the couch and stuff my face with pringles whilst moving my arm and voila - Goal met. 

[Thug47]

Thanks for all of the comments. My step count is always way off. My phone and my friend's phone and Blaze are all within a hundred steps, but my Blaze is always 2000 steps short! I have tried everything to get it to track correctly. Going to try one last time to manually enter my stride length.

[Rich_Laue]

@Thug47 stride is txt trampy easy to figure out distance divided by steps equal stride. There are also online stride calculaters, do a search. However altering the stride will not affect the step count recorded. 

As for step count accuracy i start up the tracking mode take 100 left foot steps.. This gives me a step count off 200, is that what the tracker shows?